The Atkins City Council decided during a special meeting Thursday night to host a townhall meeting beginning at noon June 10 at the Matthews Civic Center for the June 12 special sales tax election.

Mayor Jerry Don Barrett said after Thursday night's meeting the June 10 townhall meeting will include barbecue chicken and refreshments, but will focus on providing information to Atkins residents about the 1.5 percent sales tax special election. He said representatives from the city's bonding company, as well as the engineering company, will be on hand to field questions on the city's water plant improvement initiative.

Barrett said he and council members have already discussed the sales tax with citizens and fielded various questions, including:

 What does it mean to me? If Atkins water customers had to pay for the $4 million in water plant improvements and renovation, their water bills would increase an average of $12.80 per month. If the sales tax is approved, no water rate increase would be needed.

 How long would it take to pay for the initiative? Water rates would be increased for 30 years. If the sales tax is approved, depending on future sales tax revenues, the bonds could be paid off in at least 20 years.

 Who pays for this? If water rates were increased, only Atkins water customers would pay. If a sales tax is approved, everyone who shops in Atkins would help citizens, including out-of-town visitors and travelers who stop in Atkins off Interstate 40.

 What will the sales tax increase pay for? Barrett said the initiative calls for funding only water plant improvements and renovation. If the sales tax was desired for any other funding, another initiative would have to be voted on in 20 years.

"We're going to have to do what the Department of Health and [Arkansas] Department of Environmental Quality [ADEQ] are requiring," Barrett said. "We can either do it now at a cost of $4 million, or later at a much higher cost to either taxpayers or water customers. It will never be any cheaper to do work on the plant. We might as well go ahead and do the expansion now, as well as what the state agencies are going to require."

Barrett said the city's water rates have remained low due to the previous revenue from the former pickle plant, which closed in 2002, and selling water to wholesale customers during the previous years to Pottsville, Atkins Southwest Water Users and Tri County Regional Water Distribution District.

"If we were selling less water, we would have higher water rates," Barrett said. "The more water we produce for our wholesale customers, the cheaper we can produce it. Not selling to our wholesale customers is not the solution to our problem. Our water plant was built in the 1970s, and a lot of it is worn out."

Barrett said he hoped food serving would begin at noon June 10, then the question-and-answer period would begin around 1 p.m. He said another special meeting may be called before the council's next regular meeting, June 12, the day of the special election.

"We hope to get as many people as possible leaving church and coming to the meeting," Barrett said. "Hopefully we'll get enough people to come out, get informed and get all their questions answered. That way, they can do the right thing."